'17-year wait for school by Lanas Trusmadi may hamper support'

Keningau: The Lanas Trusmadi community is still waiting for their 17-year request for the construction of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Trusmadi by the Ministry of Education.

SMK Trusmadi Development Plan Chairman, Rusikan Imbayan, said the community in the area would still need to wait for the Government to develop education in the rural area.

“The failure of Barisan Nasional (BN) to organise this project may hamper the support of Lanas Trusmadi for the 13th General Election that will be held at any time because the opposition will use this issue to fish for votes.

“We are appealing for consideration in this matter,” Rusikan told Daily Express.

He added that the request made in 2008 has got the attention of BN, but the people are still waiting for the project to start.

“We are not blaming anyone. But we need the construction of the school to start as soon as possible.

This is for the sake of development in the educational sector for rural areas and to remind us that BN is the only one that can pull this off because they are concerned for the community’s infrastructure,” said Rusikan.

He added that hundreds of students have to travel long distances from their village for education.

Rusikan said there are also students who choose to stop pursuing education because of the distance to SMK Tulid.